


The Love That Cannot Hope to Last

by RegineManzato



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate universe Notting Hill, Emma is a celebrity, F/F, Regina and David are best friends, Regina is a babbling weirdo, Regina is a bookshop owner, Set in Boston, maybe a little ooc?, no magic, relaxed!Regina
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2019-01-30 07:23:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12648861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegineManzato/pseuds/RegineManzato
Summary: The chance meeting of a bookshop owner and a Hollywood star may became the prettiest love story they ever lived. Emma Swan is a cinema star. Regina Mills is a bookshop owner. Will Boston be the newest location for Emma Swan to live her own Hollywood-worth love story?





	1. The Orange Juice

 

 

For such a hub for a region, Boston is a fairly small town. You can find whatever you want. It is such a small town that, with some effort, you can walk to the North End and have a delicious cannoli or eat in one of the nice Italian restaurants from the area. During the summer, you can catch a baseball game on Fenway Park, or observe the city from above, at the top of the Prudential Center. The parks are green and lively, with the ducks and the geese swimming amongst the Swan Boats in the Public Garden, the kids running in the Boston Common. You can hear the screeching of the subway, or as locally known, the T, entering Boylston Station, or Park Station, depending on where you are.

If you’re lucky enough, or simply lost, you may stumble upon one of the nicest, cute looking bookshops in the city, the Once Upon a Book, located on West street, on the perimeter of the Common, with an incredible amount of old books on the outside of the store, just waiting, begging really, to be acquired by chance passers, or people looking for a nice scenario for their instagram accounts. And that’s what happened to one Emma Swan. - She was lost, trying to find her way to the hotel, and also using the opportunity to take nice photos in the beautiful city. After all, Boston is famous for making you lose yourself in its narrow streets, mind you.

Emma decided she wanted to buy a new book - or rather an old book - to read between her takes. As a fan of the classics, _Little Women_ was her newest reading goal of the month. Being an actress working in New York, Emma was feeling tired and wished to take a time off from all the craziness of the city and specially, the paparazzi. That’s why she decided to take a weekend off and shipped up to Boston, where she would certainly still be followed by the local media, but at least there, she could simply put on her sunglasses and pretend to be a citizen of the Commonwealth.

The bookshop was empty of customers, with nobody else in sight other than the woman behind the register.

“How’s it going today? Do you need any help?” - The brunette woman asked her, removing her reading glasses.

“No, thank you, I’m just browsing, thank you.” Emma was always afraid of stating whatever she was looking for in a store without walking around it first.

“By all means, be my guest! If you need any help, I’ll be right here.” The woman sat back, pushing the glasses up her nose, and reopening the book in her hands.

Emma walked around the shelves, Mystery, Romance, Children, Religious, Young Adult.

“If you’re looking for Young adult books, I can always recommend the Percy Jackson saga, sounds childish, but it is a great pastime if you’re stuck in the T.” The woman said, observing the other woman despite her claim to be there if Emma needed her.

“I’ve actually already read it last year.”

“Oh, I see.”

“How about the classics? Do you have a shelf for those?”

“Well dear, which classic are we talking about here?” The brunette stood from her chair and walked in Emma’s direction. “You see, you are in Massachusetts, homeland of Ralph Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott.”

“To be honest, that’s exactly what I had in mind. I have read Emerson, Poe and Hawthorne, and now I’m in the mood for some female writer, but I’m not really in the right mindset for Jane Austen yet.”

“Well, I have some Virgina Woolf if you’re interested, also good thing Louisa May Alcott has written one of the nicest books there is, _Little Women_. Let me get it for you.” Emma observed the woman, as she walked to the shelf titled Local Writers and chose four different editions, with colorful, different covers. She also chose some of Virginia’s books.

“Here, I brought you some of my favorite books and different covers, so you choose the one you like the most.” the woman gave Emma a bright smile while depositing the books on the table in front of Emma. “Take your time, dear.”

She went back to the cash register, and Emma noticed she was pretending to organize her things. She decided to take all four editions, so she could donate to the community library in her neighborhood back in New York. The cute Asian girl who runs the library would be happy to see her donating some books for the kids.

“I’ve decided to take all of them. They look very nice and after reading, I’ll chose some of them to donate to the kids in my neighbor.” Emma stated, taking all the books and walking to the register, where the woman quickly put them on the bag.

“Wicked! You’ve made a great choice, let me grab a bigger ba…” The woman stopped talking as she looked at the screen. “Just a second, dear.” She walked to the back of the store, and Emma couldn’t help listening to the conversation.

“Bad news, dude. We have security cameras installed back here.” She indicated with her head to the camera in the upper corner of the room. The man followed her eyes and froze. She put her hands in her waist, and Emma was dying to see the look in the woman’s face, but all she saw was the look on the man’s face.  The short, bearded man, with a beanie and a round belly looked like a deer.

“Yeah? So what, sister?”

“So I saw you putting that book in your pants, _brother._ ”

“What book, sister? I’m just looking around.”

“The _Hard Rock Mining 101_ I’ve seen you looking at before. So, I will give you two options: 1- I will go back to the register and you’re going to take it from your pants, _clean it_ , and put it back, or, 2 - You will buy the book. Either way, I’ll be watching you. Like a hawk.” Emma observed the woman turn around and walk back in her direction, only stopping by the bag pile to take a bigger one for the Little Women fan. The woman was finishing charging Emma when the thief approached them.

“Excuse me, sister, would you give me your autograph?”

“Sure.” Emma answered, getting a pen from the holder and a piece of paper with the store’s logo. “What’s your name?”

“Leroy. L-E-R-O-Y”.

She wrote down and gave it to him. “There you go, Leroy.”

“What does it say?” The man looked at the brunette, who looked like she could murder him with her eyes, with a smile in his face.

“Here’s my signature, and it says: _To Leroy. You belong in jail_.” Emma looked at him defiantly.

He started to laugh. “That’s a good one, sister. Do you… do you want my phone number?” Leroy smiled and leaned on the register, while wiggling his eyebrows to her.

“Hmm. Tempting. But no, thank you.” She smiled back and looked at the woman. Leroy for once, took the hint and left the store.

“Sorry about that, dear.” The woman said giving to Emma her bag and the receipt for the books.

“That’s okay, you handled it brilliantly.” Emma extended her hand to her. “I’m Emma.”

“Regina.” The woman answered, shaking the offered hand. “It’s wicked nice to meet you, dear.”

“Same. I’ll see you”.

“Thank you for shopping with us, please come back.” Regina said with a smile in her face, which reached her bright brown eyes. She also took the opportunity to give the blonde a business card for the shop. Emma smiled back and left the store.   

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

Regina watched as Emma _Swan_ left her bookstore in a hidden awe. She had seen many movies with the blonde, how couldn’t she? Emma Swan was the Hollywood star of the moment. Regina was a great appreciator of the film industry, as just much as an avid reader.

The bookshop was a gift from her father, a Puerto Rican man who came to Massachusetts to chase the American Dream in the second half of the century. Enrique Mills worked hard at the shipyard in Watertown to provide for his wife and the child from her first marriage, Zelena, and later, worked even harder in a second job, to provide for the family when Cora found herself pregnant with Regina. As time went by, Enrique had enough money to buy the property and the three women took care of the bookstore while he continued working at the shipyard, and thus, Regina grew up working on the family business while Zelena decided later, that she wanted to do other things in her life.

Regina worked with David White, her childhood friend and her sales assistant. The bell above the door rang, and Regina was taken out of her stupor by a little boy’s voice.

“Hi mommy!!”

“Hi my prince! How was your day?”

“Good! The Tillman twins played with me and Grace gave me a piece of her apple!” - Henry hugged his mother and ran to the back of the store, where he had a room filled with toys and a makeshift bed, to take his late afternoon/evening naps before it was time to close the store and go home. Regina laughed at how fast he gave her the news about his day and ran to his room.

“I think you won’t believe who was just here.” Regina told David with a small smile, startling the blonde man. “Who?” He asked looking out of the window. “Was it someone famous?” He still kept looking outside, although nobody famous was walking by. “It would be exciting though, if someone famous came into the store, uh?”  David turned to Regina and leaned against the windowsill. “Do you know, this is pretty amazing, actually. I once saw Drew Bledsoe.”

“Where was that?” Regina asked skeptically.

“Boylston Street. At least I think it was Drew Bledsoe. It might have been that quarterback from Denver, Airway.”

“Elway”

“Yeah, that’s it, Elway.”

“Yeah, but you see, Drew Bledsoe doesn’t look at all like John Elway.” Regina answered.

“Yeah but he was pretty far from me.”

“So it could’ve been neither of them.”

“Yes, I suppose so, yes.” David was a little embarrassed.

“You don’t use this type of pick up lines with the girls, do you?” Regina wanted to laugh, as much as she wanted to keep on pushing him.

“No. No, I don’t.” Both laughed.

“Since you were so kind to pick up Henry from school, would you like something to drink? A cappuccino, maybe?” Regina offered.

“Yes! No! Let’s go crazy! I’ll have an orange juice!”

“Okay, you take care of him, I’ll be right back!”

“I really don’t understand how people never assumed Henry to be my son. I mean, the amount of time I’ve spent with him and all…” David commented out loud, and Regina just laughed.

“You’re not my type of blond, handsome.” Regina said and winked at him, and left the store. She walked to the nearest coffee shop and ordered a black coffee for herself and an orange juice for David. She also picked up some mini donuts for Henry.

It was a surprisingly warm afternoon for the end of the spring, with the days getting significantly longer and warmer as summer finally approached. She really liked that time of the year, the wicked cold weather finally giving way to brighter, warmer days, tourists from all around the country and abroad could finally come and spend their money in the city, the events and concerts being scheduled to rock the place, and the influx of customers into her small bookstore was always a plus.

Regina heard her name being called, retrieved her order and left the store, imagining if she could have a quiet dinner with Henry, and what could she prepare for him once they arrived home. She wasn’t really paying attention where she was going, since that region was practically her entire universe, going back and forth was a mechanical activity for her. She never had much problem with that, but that , she should have had. As she turned the corner, she banged into someone, splashing them with the content of David’s cup of juice.

Regina couldn’t thank enough the gods for allowing her to have her coffee on the other hand, thus preventing a burning catastrophe from happening. The woman she banged into was none other than Emma Swan, the celebrity who graced her store half an hour earlier.

“Oh goodness! I’m so, so sorry. Here, I have a napkin, let me help ya!” Regina tried to clean the white shirt with the napkin, touching Emma’s breasts in the process.

“Get your hands off me!” Emma said sternly.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m so sorry! My house is across the street, I believe we can clean you up in no time.

“What I need is get to my hotel!”

“I also have a washing machine, you can get yourself cleaned and I can wash your shirt! Please, it’s the least I can do.” Regina said, still trying to make it up to the blonde.

“You said your house is across the street. How far?”

“38 yards”. Regina answered, pointing to the other side, down  the street. “The house with the blue door”.

They walked down the street and Regina let her in, pointing out the bathroom. She took some of the bags the blonde was carrying and left them on the table beside the door. While Emma changed herself, Regina put away Henry’s toys and organized the living room. “ _Holy heavens, Emma Swan is in my house_ ”. Was the only thought in her mind, and she was trying to prepare herself to the moment she would have to interact with the actress again.

Emma found the bathroom and calmed down. This type of accident never happened to her, but then again, it was not her fault. The bookstore owner, _Regina_ , was responsible for that. Luckily, she had a new shirt in one of the bags she was carrying, and she didn’t have to spend an awkward hour with Regina, if she put her shirt in the washing machine. All she had to do was change the clothes and go to her hotel. And that she did. She put on her new shirt and left the bathroom. Regina was sitting down on the kitchen, with a cup in front of her.

“Would you like something to drink, dear?”

“No, thank you.”

“I’m a fan of tea, but I have something cold as well. Water? Soda? White wine? Maybe some orange juice?”

Emma looked funnily at Regina. “Right now, I’m not the biggest fan of orange juice.”

Regina realised what she said and blushed a little. “Oh, right. Yes, understandably.” She laughed and Emma could help but laugh as well.

“How about the best apple cider you’ll ever taste?” Regina smiled.

“Got anything stronger?”

“You clearly never tasted my cider, I make it myself.” Regina was very proud of that fact, Emma noticed.

“No, thanks”. Emma changed her mind. 

“May I offer you something to eat, then? Some snack? Something to nibble?” She walked to the fridge, looking for something that might interest the blonde.

“I have cranberry jam, they go nicely with the whole toast. It’s not quite cranberry season yet, but this jam I made it myself during last autumn and I have kept it here, it’s still delicious, I can assure you. I’ve got some fruit if you’d prefer. Have you already eaten?”

For the perspective of someone who didn’t know Regina, it seemed like she was nervously trying to please her guest, and Emma was starting to feel a little amused by her attitudes.  

“No, thank you. I swear I’m good.”

“Do you want some apricots soaked in honey? Particularly I think it only tastes like honey, and if you wanted honey, just buy some honey instead of apricots. Nevertheless, they are yours if you want.” Regina held out the jar of apricots, which were there solely because of David, who insisted on keeping some of his favorite fruits in her fridge.

“No, thank you.”

“Say dear, do you always say no to things?”

Emma thought for a moment, laughed and said “No. It’s just that I don't feel like eating anything, I appreciate your effort, but all I have to do is go back to my hotel.”

“I see. Well, I’m sure you’ll have a wicked good time in Boston, if people stop bumping into you with their orange juice.” Regina said, while walked Emma to the front door.

“Well, this was nice. Surreal, but nice.” Regina said, offering her hand to Emma.

“Yeah, it was.” Emma shook her hand and Regina opened the door to her, observing as Emma left her house, walking towards her hotel, Regina expected.

“ _Surreal but nice?_ ” What was I thinking?” She asked herself after closing the door.

Regina went to the kitchen, to take some of the orange juice she had in her fridge to David, who was still waiting for his drink and would probably be wondering where was she.

Before she could get a tumbler, the doorbell rang.

To her surprise, it was Emma Swan. “Hi! I forgot my bags.” The blonde said, and Regina stepped to the side, giving Emma access to the house.

“Please, come in. They’re right here.” She closed the door behind her and pointed to the bags. Emma got them and looked at Regina. “Thank you. This was… _surreal_ , but in a beautiful way.”

They looked at one another, and in a burst of confidence which Emma had no idea where it came from, she stepped forward and kissed Regina, who stayed still for two seconds, before putting her hands around Emma’s waist line and bringing her closer, while responding to the kiss by opening her mouth. As oxygen became necessary, the kiss ended and both smiled.

“Now, this was a lot nicer.” Emma said, still smiling.

“Yeah.”

“It’s probably best not tell anyone about this.” Emma said looking at her.

“Right. Right. No one.” Regina looked a little sad. “I mean, I will tell myself sometimes, but don’t worry, I will not believe it, either.” Emma opened the door and left to the street.

“Is this real life?” The brunette asked herself out loud, but with no one around, she was left without an answer.

 


	2. Mrs. Flintstone

Three weeks later after _The incident_ , as Regina called it, summer finally settled in and the shop was constantly busy. With the summer, Henry started spending more time in the shop, sometimes going out with Zelena. David was finally earning his salary, making sure all the books were properly organized, the books in the shelves outside the store always in their place after the customers left the store.

“Hey, have you got anything planned tonight?” David asked her one afternoon.

“Not really. Zelena wants to spend the night with Henry, so I’ll probably go home and watch something on Netflix, why? What’s on your mind?”

“Remember when you told me about Emma Swan? I found three of her movies on Netflix, I was wondering if you’ve already seen it.”

“Don’t you have a social life or something, David? What’s the catch here?” Regina felt like he was trying to trap her, or something worse: Get her on a blind date.

David laughed, “There is no catch, I swear! Just you, me, popcorn and Emma Swan on the TV. She’s pretty, you said so. Can you blame me for wanting to watch her movies? By the way, I’m still mad at you for not telling me straight away she had been here.”

“When have I ever done something straight, David?”

“Since you've asked, I do remember Daniel Smith, from eighth grade, the two of you doing pretty straight things under the bleachers.”

“That was AGES ago, David. At least twenty years ago. I’ve gotten much wiser since then. You’re the worst friend, always reminding me of the past errors. Grow up, White.” They laughed “Besides, she was here, picked up some books, gave an autograph to Leroy and that was it, no big deal.”

“Yeah right. No big deal for you. I’d loose my cool if I’ve ever seen her. She has been to so many tv shows, and now she’s finally doing great movies.”

“Calm down, fanboy. Let summer end and we will organize _The Emma Swan fan club_ , okay? You’re gonna be the president, I promise. Tell you what: Let’s binge watch all her movies on Netflix, What do you say?”

“Yes!”

As they were closing the store, Zelena came by to pick Henry up. David said he was going to run some errands and would meet her at her house.

“Some errands” Regina said after he left. “Right, as if I don’t know he’s swooning over the barista at the coffee shop.” She commented with Zelena.

“Come on, are you jealous, sis?”

“Of course not. David is just so naive. I can’t believe he’s been my friend of over twenty years and still acts like a teenager boy falling in love with a girl for the first time.” Regina said looking at Zelena.

“All right, Henry, I want you to promise me you’ll be good to aunt Zee.” She knelt down to be at the same height as her son.

“I promise. We’re going to watch Frozen and she will sing with me.” The little boy hi-fived his mother, gave her a hug and went to his aunt, asking to be picked up.

“You’re getting too big to be picked up, Prince Henry.” Zelena said as they walked to the subway station and gave him a kiss in his forehead. “And we will only watch Anna and Elsa if you eat all your veggies and peas!”

“Aunt Zee, why do you like green so much?” Regina and Zelena laughed at Henry’s question and Regina said her goodbyes, once they were at the station.

“Because it is such a beautiful color I want to eat it! muahahaha!”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Regina made the lasagna, while David was responsible for stirring the sauce. He had brought a nice red wine to complement the dinner and of course, an apple pie. Regina bragged about her cooking skills and David bragged about…. being the only man in Regina’s life since she came to terms with herself about her sexuality.

“You know what, that’s a remarkable feat, David. Cheers to that!” Regina raised her glass and took a sip of the wine.

“I mean, for a couple of months back in college, thought you’d realize you’re bi and give that Hood guy a chance.”

“What Hood guy?” Regina looked like she didn’t put a face to the name.

“That guy from Maine?”

“Oh! Forest Boy! Come on, White, he smelt like pine! Even if I was into him, which I wasn’t, that smell never made him any favors.”

They sat through two different movies and on the third one, a rom-com, the male character proposed to Emma’s character and a romantic scene happened, with a nice kiss at the end.

“Imagine that,” David said, “Somewhere in the world some lucky bastard is allowed to kiss that woman.” He huffed, standing up to grab more wine.

“Yeah, she is… very… fabulous.” Regina whispered.

“Tell me again how did you two interact when she came by the shop?” He gave the glass, refilled with the rest of the wine.

“I’ve told you over and over again. She entered the store looking for some classics, bought a bunch of editions of Little Women and a few of Virginia Woolf, witnessed me badgering Leroy for trying to steal a book, she gave him an autograph, then I gave her a business card and that was it, off she went into the wild.” Regina was retelling the story without paying attention.

“WAIT, WHAT?! You never told me you gave her a business card!” - David stood up with a jump. “Are you saying there is a possibility of Emma Swan coming back to our store? Because you gave her our business card?”

“Maybe, I don’t know, David, what are the chances of her coming back to Boston? For all we know, she splits her time between New York and Los Angeles, what business would she have to do in Boston?” Regina deflected. “Just calm down and stop freaking out because of a remote possibility. It’s more probable she’s thrown away the business card, and even if she does come back, what are the odds?”

Well, two weeks later, Regina’s phone did beat the odds. She received a text message from an unknown number from New York.

“ **Hey, this is Emma!**  
**I will be in Boston next week and I would like to see you, if it is possible.**  
**I’ll be at The Ritz-Carlton from Thursday to Sunday night.**  
**Just say you’re looking for Ms. Flintstone.**  
**Hope to see you there! ;-)** ”

Regina couldn't believe her eyes. How the hell was this happening? She tried to come up with ideas to answer the text. More importantly, what would she say if David found out about Emma?

“ ** _Hi Ms Flintstone!_**  
**_I’m so glad to hear the news!_**  
**_I’ll be sure to stop by and see you! See you! ;-)_** ”

Regina kept looking at her cellphone all day waiting for an answer, which never came. She could understand Emma being a busy person, but she had made the first move and contacted her, right? Wouldn’t it mean she should’ve at least continued the conversation?

Should Regina come up with something for them to do during her stay in the city? Was Emma expecting it to be a sexual encounter? Regina had no problem with it being a sexual encounter, as long as she was previously informed and had time to emotionally prepare for that. All the questions kept bugging her, and she did not work so great that Wednesday.

“Hey, are you okay?” David no longer could wait for Regina to decide if she would open up with him or not. He had to make it for her.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You’ve been constantly looking at the cell phone, like you’re waiting for something to happen, is it something with your family? How’s your mother?

“She’s great. That’s not it.”

“Ok, so is it something to do with Zelena’s dinner party? You do remember it’s this Saturday, right?”

“Yeah, David, I do know. Ruby and Kathryn have sent messages all week asking for things Zelena likes the most. One would think they actually never met Zee before.” Regina huffed. “But that’s not the problem, White.”

“You know, only you call me White and that’s either when you’re mad at me, usually for no good reason, or when you’re trying to deflect the subject.”

“No shit, Sherlock!” Regina mocked her friend.

“You can’t be mad at me right now because I’ve been busy and kept my distance from you all day long, so, what is it that’s eating that big brain of yours?”

“You’re very clever for a blond, David, congratulations.”

“Thank you, thank you.” David bowed in mockery. “Now, sister, hit me up. What’s going on?”

“I’m going to tell you, just because I have no idea on how to proceed, and you usually have good advice, but I don’t want you to freak out. So, first of all, promise me you won’t freak out, no matter what I’m about to tell you.” Regina looked at him sternly.

“Well, you know me well enough to know I’d only freak out if somehow the subject has anything to do with Emma Swan. Since you told me the odds are pretty low, go ahead, I will not freak out.”

Regina opened her arms and let them fall in defeat. “Forget I said anything, David.”

“Wait, what? You just said I give good advice.”

“Just forget it, blondie.” Regina went on organize one of the shelves, counting down from ten until David connected the dots and freaked out.

_five…_

_four…_

_three…_

_two…_

_one…_

_zero._

“WAIT, ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT EMMA SWAN? HAS SHE MADE CONTACT WITH YOU? THAT’S WHY YOU’RE GLUED TO THAT PHONE OF YOURS?! OH MY GOD, REGINA!” David showed up behind her faster than she could hide and he held her by the arms. “TELL ME EVERYTHING, REGINA MILLS.”

“Okay. But first I want a coffee. I can’t go on talking about this without some sort of caffeine.”

“Now you’re just trying to stall me, but I’ll bite the bullet. Give me 15 minutes.” David left the bookstore, running towards the coffee shop.

Anything and everything was an excuse to see Mary Margaret, the cute pixie haired barista. David always came to the same coffee shop around the corner, not a Dunkin’ Donuts, but an actual coffee shop, because he liked the different styles and flavours and smells inside the store, but mostly, and to be quite honest, he liked Mary Margaret the most.

The barista had told him her name in the fourth time he went by in two days and ordered the same coffee and commented on her ‘wicked awesome’ skills to prepare it. Today, though, he didn’t have much interest in flirting with her, so he apologetically ordered his usual and a tall black coffee for Regina and, ten minutes later, a record for him, he was back into the bookshop, where he basically hauled Regina to “Henry’s room”, pushed the coffee cup into her hands and sat down in front of him.

“Okay, Regina Mills. It’s time to confess and free your soul from the sins you’ve been committing by omission to the one and only non gay male friend you have. Spill, and may the gods have mercy on your soul.”

And so Regina did. She told him about the accident with his orange juice, how Emma refused to eat anything at her house, how she had forgotten her bags and, when she came back once she remembered them and then went on kissing Regina. David was on cloud nine, for finally listening to Regina’s story and also kind of glad that, if Emma was an unreachable dream, at least for Regina she was very, very near of becoming a reality.

It was killing two birds with one stone. Regina would be happy, and he was going to be Emma Swan’s next best friend.

Regina asked for advice on what she should do the next day. David finished his coffee and said he was going to get another one for himself, and she would get her answer in the next couple of hours, but she was not going to be disappointed. And so Regina actually felt a lot better telling him everything about Emma, and the ‘confession’ made her think on the important matters she had to focus in the moment and not only in Emma Swan.

Around six in the afternoon, Regina had solved all the problems and signed all the documents brought by Belle, her financial manager. She opened all the junk mail, read all the email and also, made all the payments and placed a new order with the editors for new books.

Zelena called her, saying she wanted to bring Henry in that evening, and that Regina should just tell her what time she wanted Henry back. She also mentioned that they had enjoyed their time together, riding a bicycle, running around the park near her home, playing with the neighbor's dogs and eating grapes. Henry hardly ever was a difficult child to take care of, occasionally when he was sick, and would get cranky and only accepted his mother’s ministrations.

“One would say he’d came straight from your uterus, sis. It’s amazing how connected to two of you are.”

“Well, yes, Zee. Henry has been with me since he was three weeks old, and I have basically taken care of him by myself, with you and David as special guests in our daily show called _“The Battle of the Bathtime.”_ Regina answered, looking lovingly at the photo of Henry she had on the register.

Her baby boy had grown so much since his adoption, and she wanted to believe her influence in his development would really help him become a decent human being in the future.

“You know what, sis, this show only happens in your house, because here, he had no problems to take a shower before going to bed.” Zelena laughed, hearing Regina’s indignant huff.

“Just bring him to me at seven, Zee. Also, come prepared to spend the night, I will prepare a nice dinner for us and David.”

“One of these days you should start charging David for all times you have fed him.”

“He already pays me with good advice on women and coffee, Zee. Besides, if it was up to him, he’s probably would have died years ago, with poisoned food. Let’s just be great thankful he has given up the idea of opening a restaurant.”

“Yeah, but you know what that caused. He passed on the idea to Ruby. I really hope she cooks me something I love for my birthday, I’m kind of tired of takeout food, and that’s my one chance of the year of actually feasting on Eugenia’s best dishes.”

“Well, Ruby had granny teach her how to cook her whole life, if she really wants to move forward with the idea of opening a restaurant, she better not be an idiot of not inviting her own MasterChef-esq granny to be the chef.” Regina answered.

“Okay Zee, I gotta go. Don’t forget to be here at seven. Love ya!” Around half past six, David showed up, after putting away all the shelves that stayed outside and started finishing up business for the day. They had another twenty minutes and they wanted to be ready to close and meet up with Zelena and Henry for dinner.

“Alright, boss. Are you ready to sweep Emma Swan off of her feet tomorrow? I will tell you everything you have to do, and you’re gonna be so thankful, you will invite me to be your best mate for the wedding. So, get comfy and listen up: David White has come to rescue!”

“Aren’t you a real Prince Charming?”

At seven o’clock, Regina had a plan to meet Emma Swan, thanks to David, and that involved going to the Old South Meeting House to buy a wicked nice bouquet of flowers and inviting her to drink some tea, or whatever else Emma Swan would want. They finished closing up the store and headed to Regina’s home. Zelena and Henry were already waiting for them in the apartment, Zelena had unfortunately put Henry to watch Frozen, which meant he was singing out loud to his aunt while she took the liberty of preparing some drinks for the adults.

Regina took advantage of her sister’s presence and asked her to help Henry to have a shower and get ready to dinner. She prepared something light and easy, and before eight thirty, the three adults were in Henry’s room, reading The Little Prince for him, each of them making a different voice, according to the characters that came up on the store.

Henry always loved bedtime stories, and having a reading session with auntie Zee, uncle David and mommy, well, that was huge for him.

As Henry finally feel asleep, the three of them went to the living room, happy to provide the little boy some entertainment with all of them together. As Zelena was ready to spend the night, wearing a green onesie she found online, she made herself another margarita, and prepared another one to David, who said he would be just fine sleeping in Regina’s couch. He wanted to make sure she’d look beautiful and posed, to meet the blonde actress next day.

Regina felt a mixture of anxiety and exhilaration with the possibility of meeting Emma Swan again, with the solely purpose of seeing her. No excuses, no accidents, no coincidences. It had been so long since she had a decent, normal date with someone, she was feeling a little agitated.

The following morning, Regina got ready, separated her best clothes, combed her hair and left the house, ready to tackle her duties at the store during the morning. David helped her compose a text message to Emma.

“ _ **Hello Ms. Flinstone!**_  
_**What time would be the best time to go and see you?**_  
_**Have a good day!**_ ”

“I hate the wait, once you’ve sent a message.” She said, walking around the store with her cell phone in her hands, David laughed at her and started to talk to her, trying to distract his friend. She kept on walking until her phone rang, half an hour later, with Emma’s message.

“ **Hi! At two p.m. would be an excellent time.**  
**Hope you can have lunch with me.**  
**See you soon!** ”

At exactly two p.m., Regina entered the reception of the hotel.

“Hi, welcome to the Ritz-Carlton, how may I help you?”

“Hello, I’m being waited by Mrs Flintstone.”

“Absolutely, please tell me your name and let me announce you to the suite.”

“I’m Regina Mills.”.


	3. Back to Boston

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everybody who is following this story. I'm sorry for the week-delay. I hope you enjoy this chapter, because as I have been a few times to Boston, I wanted to revive some of the experiences I had as a tourist in the city.  
> (also, the last part of the chapter is a representation of my own experience, you'll understand)
> 
> ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Regina was feeling a little nervous when the elevator dinged on the twenty-second floor, indicating she was on her destination. Emma Swan would be waiting for her at the suite. She took a deep breath and left the elevator, walking to the end of the aisle, 42 steps. She knocked on the door. In the seconds it took for the door to be opened, Regina started feeling inadequate with the small, but beautiful bouquet of red and yellow roses she had in her hands and second guessed her decision of buying the flowers. _Well, here goes nothing._

 The door was opened by a blonde woman. “Hi, Regina. I’m Elsa, please come in.” Elsa stepped to the side, and Regina entered the suite.

“I’m Emma’s assistant, she’ll receive you in a few minutes, please be comfortable.” Elsa pointed to the sofa, and Regina felt even more awkward with the bouquet in her hand.

The room was filled with huge, lustrous bouquets of white roses, yellow and white lilies and a few daisies complemented the decoration. _Oh my, this was a terrible idea_. While she decided what to do with the flowers in her hands, Emma came into the room, with Elsa behind her.

“Hi, Regina. Good to see you!” Emma greeted her with a professional smile, and Regina shook her hand.  
  
“Hi, Ms. Swan, or should I say, Ms. Flintstone.” Regina answered with a smile.

“Yeah, about that, it’s a little easy to hide in plain sight if you just use a different name.”

“Emma, I still don’t know why Regina is here, there’s nothing on your schedule for her.”  Elsa had her back to them, and didn’t see the look on Regina’s face, but Emma had.

“Regina is here because I bumped into her last time I was here, remember? The orange juice situation?” Emma said, hoping beyond hope Regina would play along. 

Elsa turned to look at them. “Oh, so you’re the poor, victimized soul who had the terrible luck of witnessing Emma’s clumsy moves?” Regina only smiled and nodded. “Now I see why you’re here.” Elsa pointed to the door. “Emma, I’ll check your schedule with August, you’ll have five minutes, ok?” Emma thanked her and they watched Elsa leave the room and close the door behind her.

 “I’m so sorry, I didn’t want her to blame you for… that, so I told her that story.” Emma felt terrible, and Regina could sense the guilt in her voice. Looking at Emma’s green eyes, Regina felt like butterflies were flying in her stomach.

“That’s ok. I understand.” Regina looked at her hands, and realized she was still holding the bouquet. “I… I bought you flowers, but… I guess you wouldn’t want them.” She looked around as if showing her understanding her flowers couldn’t compare to the ones already in the room.

“Oh, no, no, I do want them, they’re beautiful.” Emma took the offered flowers and looked around the room, finding a vase with a small bouquet of daisies, taking them off and leaving them at the table, and putting Regina’s flowers in the vase. “There, see? Much more beautiful than these. They have personality.” Emma smiled. “So, thank you so much for taking the time to see me. I don’t have much time today, with all the interviews for the new movie and all, but I definitely wanted to see you today.”

“That’s okay, I was very happy to hear from you. I have to be honest, my friend David was just excited as I was. Or more. He is a great fan of your work.” Regina smiled, remembering how important David’s ideas were. _“Play it cool, but not frosty! If you need to, tell her I was more excited, which is not a lie, but at least she will see you’re pretty cool with her being famous and not freaking out and all.”_

“Oh, that’s nice. I was a little afraid you would… be bothered with me being famous and all.” Emma commented a little insecure. Regina noticed this and without knowing what else to do, she sat on the couch. Emma seemed to find this a good idea and sat on the adjacent armchair.

“To be honest, Emma, I’m still not sure I believe what is going on. But that’s okay, because I’m super down to Earth and, although I have no idea what it is to be famous, I would imagine you wanting to have a quiet time and just… _be._ ” Regina stopped talking, giving Emma time to think about it.

“Well, you know, I’d say you guessed right. Comparing to New York, Boston is such a quiet, cozy little town, and I was left alone while walking around, and _bumping_ into you and then what everything that happened after that was such a mundane and nice thing, that… I thought we could… repeat that.” Emma smiled sheepishly to Regina. 

Before Regina could answer, Elsa barged into the room. “Time’s up, Buttercup.” They stood up and Emma started to apologize. “I’m so sorry about that, I do have some interviews to finish up. Can we have… an orange juice later?” She laughed and Regina couldn’t help but laugh as well. “Sure, _Princess Buttercup_.  Just give me a call, or send me a message. If you’re brave enough, just walk down the next two blocks, you know where my store is, we’re open until later now, it’s summer.”

“Sure.” They stared into each other’s eyes quietly, both thinking the same thing, but either wanting to be the first, afraid of the other’s reaction. Regina took a deep breath and stepped closer to the actress, but as they were about to touch each other, Elsa opened the door, startling them. “Let’s go, baby. You’ve got _The Globe_ and _The Harold_ waiting for you. No time for heartfelt goodbyes.” Elsa looked pointedly at her closeness, and Emma walked around the room. When she got to the door, she looked behind her. “I’ll call you. Thank you.” She muted to Regina, who nodded, and when the door closed behind Emma, she sat back into the couch. “What just happened here?” She breathed deeply, trying to get it together.

 Before she could leave the suite, the door was opened, and Elsa came in and closed it. “Hi, Regina. How are you?”

“I’m… I’m good. It was a surprise to see her. You know how it is… we get… starstruck.”

Elsa smiled, and Regina felt a little easier being in the assistant’s presence. “Yeah, she has that effect in people. She’s so nice and down to Earth, people usually don’t get it. You do, though. She’s told me the way you treated her in the store and when she bumped into you on the street. Thanks for that, by the way. She usually feels totally out of place interacting with people she doesn’t know.”

“That’s okay, I’m pretty sure I babbled the whole time. I tend to get like that when I’m nervous and David, my best friend, always tells me to remember to take a deep breath instead of just verb-vomit whatever comes to my mind and…”

“Regina, take a deep breath.” Elsa said kindly.  

“See? Thank you for that.”

“Well dear, right now she’s working and will only be free around six. Is it okay if she gives you a call later?”

“Yes, absolutely. I’ll be waiting.”

“Good. Now, Just… a tiny thing. You know she’s super famous and all, so I’d like to ask you to avoid talking to people about her. Do you think you can do that for me? And Emma?” Elsa’s sweet tone was gone. She looked directly into Regina’s eyes. Although she posed that as a question, Regina could feel it was more of a command than a real request.

“Yeah, absolutely. Why would I broadcast that to people and lose her company? If Emma wants to be nameless in Boston, I can help her with that.”

“Awesome, _my queen._ ” Elsa bowed with a smile on her face. “She’s gonna call you later, then.”

 

That evening, Emma and Regina walked around downtown, Regina showing her all the places she liked about the city. They strolled down Newbury Street, walking in and out of the expensive boutiques. As night fell, Regina suggested they went to the Skywalk observatory, so Emma could see the city from above. They gave their ID’s at the front desk and rode in the fast elevator up to the 50th floor, where they had an amazing view of Boston. Lucky for them, the Red Sox were playing that night, so they started looking down to the Fenway Park, with the lights on and the movement of the crowd giving them a nice view.

“I’d love to watch a game. I had a bro… _a friend_ who loved the Red Sox and always said he would love to watch a game one day.” Emma commented, looking down and beyond the ballpark.

“I’m pretty sure you can find some tickets, it’s the high of the season, let me check the schedule.” Regina took her cell phone and checked the team’s website. “Look, you’re in luck. They will be playing home until Sunday.”

“That’s great! I’ll make sure to check that later!” They walked around the floor, looking through the huge glass windows, Regina pointing out some nice spots to see and do around the city. They looked down to the Common, and them to the Esplanade, where they could only see all the lights on the Hatched Shell, some Summer concert going on.

“Boston is truly a beautiful city. It has been ages since I came here to just… walk around and be incognito.” Emma said, smiling at Regina. “Thank you for that.” Regina smiled back, tucking a brown strand of hair behind her ear. “Thank you for allowing me the pleasure.” They looked at each other, and Regina felt butterflies in her stomach. 

Emma wanted to do something, get closer to the brunette, kiss her, but even though they were in a fairly calm and private place, they were still in public, with other tourists walking around the floor. Emma smiled sweetly at Regina, and the bravest thing she could do that night was to brush their hands together while they walked back to the hotel, Regina guiding her down the Huntington Avenue and Emma was awed when they walked through the Copley Square, stating she would love to visit the Public Library the next day, and invited Regina to meet her again.  

 After some more time, they went back to Emma’s hotel, and then, Regina headed home, where David and Zelena waited for her. Henry was already sleeping, since it was way over his bedtime.

The three of them sat in the living room, with a bottle of wine on the coffee table. She told them everything that happened, from the moment she arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, after Emma’s interviews, to the point of them walking around Boylston Street hand in hand.

 

“Okay, sis. We get you had a wicked romantic date, but the most important information you left out of your fairytale is: Did you kiss the girl or what?”

“No. No we didn’t, Zee. She’s wicked famous. Somebody could’ve seen us. I seriously don’t know if she’s okay being seen with another woman. You know how the celebrities are. She’s no Ellen Degeneres.” 

“She certainly isn’t. Ellen is beyond awesome.” David said. “But the thing is Regina, you can’t be someone’s secret. What if she isn’t willing to admit she is lesbian, or, I don’t know, at least bi? What will you do?” 

“Well, you’re the ones creating expectations. This may be just a fling for her, I certainly am not expecting her to leave it all behind and come to Boston and propose to me. Hold your horses, my dear. It would be nice just to… have a simple experience with her?” Regina stood up and refilled her glass of wine, drinking a good part of it, and refilling her glass another time. 

“For someone who ‘isn’t creating expectations’, you’ve thought long enough about this hypothetical scenario, don’t you, sis?” Zelena and David laughed. 

“Please don’t make me think about this more than I have already. She’s a wicked beautiful woman, super famous, awesome talented who apparently liked me and you know what? I will not look a gift horse in the mouth.” Regina stood up and walked to the corridor. “So please, let me have this, we all know she’s going to go back to New York and forget me in no time. So you all have a good night, I’m going to bed.”

 

Emma called Regina the next day, after finishing up her commitments. Just as the previous day, Regina took Emma to the nicest parts of the city, and they even went to the Red Sox game, where Emma felt really emotional, telling Regina about Neal, her friend who loved the team and never had the chance to watch a match in the stadium, he had died before he was healthy enough to leave the hospital. 

After the game, Emma and Regina took a cab back to the hotel. Emma wanted to invite Regina to have dinner with her, but didn’t want to sound so eager, so she decided to give Regina the opportunity to take their “dates” to the next level.

“I’ll be here until Sunday night, are you available and willing to do something tomorrow?”

Regina got excited.

“Well, I don’t know if you have read _Little Women_   yet and if you’re into that type of thing, but Concord isn’t far from here. We could rent a car and drive there, so I could show you Louisa May Alcott’s house, and if it isn’t too creepy for you, we could go to the Sleepy Hollow cemetery and you can see her final resting place, there’s also the Concord Museum and it is a nice place to visit and learn a little more about the local authors.”

Emma was amused by Regina’s enthusiasm, even if she did consider the idea a little creepy, but she wanted to spend as much time with Regina as she could, so she decided to agree with the brunette’s idea. “Wow, Regina, that’s most unusual date I’ve ever had. I hope you do have a plan for us to eat at some point tomorrow.” They laughed together and Regina was about to say that yes, she knew an awesome place in Concord when she suddenly stopped moving. “Oh shit! it’s my sister’s birthday. Shit! We meant to be having dinner.”

“Okay, that’s fine.” Emma agreed without hesitating.

“No, I’m sure I can get out of it.” Regina was already thinking about all of the favours she would owe Zelena.

“No, I meant if it’s fine with you all if I be your date.” Emma intervened, before Regina made a decision.

“You will…. you’ll be my date to my sister’s birthday party?” Regina almost couldn’t believe in her ears.

“If it’s all right.” Emma said, and Regina saw she was starting to second guess her decision.

“Yeah, sure it’s all right! My friend Ruby is cooking and she is generally known as the second best cook in Boston, and the food will certainly be amazing and I hope you don’t get enchanted with her cooking instead of me, but you can always just… hire her and…”

“Okay.” Emma laughed.

“Okay. So I’ll pick you up around.. ten a.m. tomorrow”

“Sounds perfect.”

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Emma never had so much fun visiting a museum and then a cemetery before. They left Boston in the middle of the morning, with Regina renting a car for them and driving the short distance to Concord. 

Regina showed her and explained all about the local authors, their books and the historical importance of Concord in the independence of the country. Admittedly, Emma never paid much attention to the History classes, but with adulthood and the opportunity of evolving culturally has made her and avid reader and being there, observing all those stories about the authors and witnessing Regina’s enthusiasm, made that date become one she wouldn’t forget easily. Regina explained her a lot of things, told her curiosities about the place and the events.

When they were standing in front of Alcott’s grave, Regina took a pencil out of her pocket and deposited on the ground. Emma looked curiously from the pencil on the ground to Regina, waiting for an explanation.

“You see, wannabe writers come here and leave pencils, as a way to become inspired by her. I’m not superstitious or anything, but, a pinch of good will and creativity isn’t bad for anyone.” Regina said sheepishly. Emma just nodded and smiled.

“So you’re saying you’re a ‘wannabe writer’?” She mentioned as they walked back to the car. The dinner was set to start around eight, and she still needed to get ready, before they headed to the party.

“Who isn’t? I’ve spent the greater part of my life amongst books, classic, modern, awkward and terrible stories. I have read almost every single book in that store. At some point you start wondering what would be like to share your own ideas with other people. So, the perfect idea came, and from time to time, I try my hand at writing a paragraph or two. Nothing too serious, as I have so many other things to do.”

“I see. Well, if you ever finish that text, I would love to read it.” Emma smiled as Regina held her hand. They were alone, and their confidence had improved a lot by that third day together. It would be difficult to go back to reality once Emma Swan went back to New York, but she was not going to waste the opportunity.

 

They arrived back to the hotel.

“I’ll be back in two hours.” Regina said.

“Okay, see you soon.” Emma smiled back.

They smiled and each went their way, to get ready for the dinner party.


	4. The Birthday Dinner Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regina takes Emma as her guest to Zelena's birthday party, and she meets the gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the lateness to update, I had a block. I hope you all like this chapter. ;)

Regina tried not to freak out as she looked at the three different dresses she had separated for the dinner. She wished Zelena was there to help her choose her dress, but Zelena was at Kathryn’s house with Henry, and David was taking care of the store. She walked around in her underwear, still trying to decide which of the dresses to use and stopped in front of the mirror, in the bathroom, to apply the makeup.

 As she finished, she decided for the gray, simple one, with the thin belt around her waist. Regina let her hair down, the ending forming a little waive outwards. The red lipstick drew attention to her beautiful smile.

 She arrived at the hotel’s reception and asked to be announced to Ms. Flintstone. After a minute, she was allowed to go up. Emma was waiting for her at the suit’s door, and she opened the door as soon as Regina knocked.  

Emma was wearing a simple red dress, which gave Regina lots to imagine, and her hair was tied in a bun, with a light makeup, enlightening her green eyes.

“Wow, you look fantastic!” Regina said, giving Emma a small box with a corsage of white roses.

“Oh, you look amazing as well, now I feel like I’m going to prom. Oh, it’s beautiful.” Emma let Regina enter and closed the door behind them. “I’m almost done, just need to get my shoes.”

Regina laughed, and helped Emma to put the corsage in her left wrist. Five minutes later, they were walking through the Common, as Kathryn and Fred lived on Commonwealth Avenue. Emma and Regina had the opportunity of crossing the bridge on the Public Garden lake, Regina making fun of Emma and saying they should ride the _Swan_ boats before she left. Emma was impressed with the thin garden in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue, which gave the street a calm atmosphere, perfect for long walks and sitting down to relax and observe the birds. Regina smiled sadly, but as they arrived to their destination, Emma didn’t have time to ask her about it.

 Frederick or Fred, as he preferred to be called, opened the door for them, and recovered from the surprise of having Emma Swan in his house pretty quickly. Kathryn was in the living room, on her wheelchair. Regina hugged her friend and introduced Emma. “Kathryn offered her hand to Emma and said “Oh goodness, you’re the spitting image of..”

“Kath, this is Emma.”  Kathryn smiled and Emma thank her for the reception. They moved to the kitchen and Ruby was introduced to them.

“Regina honey! You disappeared! By the way, granny keeps telling me to invite you to have a dinner with us sometime, she’s super excited with the idea of the restaurant.”

“Ruby, this is Emma.” Ruby offered her hand to greet Emma and realized who she was.

“Swan. Have some wine. You’re very pretty. Wow. I’m Ruby, nice to meet you.”.

Emma smiled back. “Nice to meet you, Ruby.”

Regina observed Ruby and thanked her for the dinner “Tell granny I’ll give her a call, see when we can schedule a visit.”

“Yeah, sure, dear.”

Fred entered the kitchen with Zelena behind him, but a high pitched “MOMMY!!!” and a little boy crashing into Regina’s legs was the only thing Emma could pay attention. Regina picked him up and faced Emma.

“Henry, please say hi to Emma, she’s my friend and she’s having dinner with us tonight.”

Henry gave Emma a large smile and offered his hand. “Hi, Emma. My name is _Prince_ Henry, and I am four.” His left hand showed three fingers. Emma shook his hand and smiled at him. “I think you’re missing a finger there, your majesty.” She helped him to correctly show four fingers. “Now, that’s right. It’s a pleasure to get your acquaintance, Prince Henry, I’m Emma Swan.”

“Get what?” He frowned and everyone in the room smiled.

“She said she’s happy to meet you, your majesty.” Zelena approached them, and Henry opened his arms to her, and she took him from Regina. “We’re still working on the bigger words. I’m Zelena by the way, it’s fantastic to meet you, Emma.” Zelena smiled and Emma smiled back. “Nice to meet you. And happy birthday!”

The conversation was fluid, and Emma was having fun with Zelena, Regina and Henry. Whenever Regina went to help Ruby with the food, Henry would interact more with Emma, and Kathryn was also present, since the kitchen was crowded.

As dinner was about to get ready, the doorbell rang, and Henry screamed “UNCLE DAVID!!!” before running to the door, and Fred was right behind him, to make sure it was, indeed, David.

 “Now this should be interesting.” Zelena said to Regina, and the brunette had just enough time to say a few words to Emma, as David, Fred and Henry were talking at the door.

“If he bothers you at all, just let me know. Big fan and all.”

David entered the room and Emma was the first person he saw. And apparently, the only one.

“Oh my… that’s…. that’s truly you.” David held Henry in your arm and offered Emma his hand, which she accepted. “ This is…. one of the key moments in life when you should totally keep your cool and be nice, and I know I will fail miserably. I absolutely, totally and utterly adore you and I think you’re the most beautiful woman in the world. I’m David and I’m a big fan of your work, miss Swan. And I truly believe we’re destined to be best friends.”

Emma smiled, while everyone else laughed out loud.

“Let’s see what destiny has reserved for us.” She answered.

“Oh, marry Regina. She’s a really nice woman, than we can be almost siblings, since Regina is like a sibling to me.

“I’ll think about it” Emma said.  

 The doorbell rang one more time and Ruby scrambled to answer it. Zelena just chucked, and as Emma looked at her inquisitively, she commented in a low voice “That’s supposed to be Belle, Regina’s accountant and Ruby’s crush since… forever.”

Everybody was quiet, and they listened as Ruby almost stuttered “Hi, hello Belle. Please come in. We’re all in the living room.”

“Hi Ruby, it’s so nice to see you! I miss your food so much.”

Regina shook her head, and the group decided to keep on talking, to not sound suspicious.

Belle was introduced to Emma, but didn’t demonstrate at all if she recognized the blonde. For Zelena and Regina, it was a no.

“So, Emma. You’re Regina’s friend! How did you two meet?” Belle asked Emma. They were sitting on the couch, drinking some wine.

“It’s actually a funny story. I went to the bookstore, to get a new book and we had a brief talk,  and half an hour later she bumped into me on the street and spilled orange juice all over me.” Emma smiled, remembering the situation.

“Wow, I bet it was a nuisance.”

“Not really, thankfully we were near her house and she offered it to me, so I could get changed. A few weeks later, I’m back in Boston, so I thought why not give her call, and we’re here today.”

“That’s nice… so you’re not actually from Boston?” Belle asked in a very polite way. Emma looked at her amusedly, and Zelena, who was observing the conversation just chucked.

“Oh, no. I live in New York City.”

“Splendid! I’ve been a few times there, mostly to watch a show on Broadway.” Belle’s interest peaked up. “And what do you do?”

“Funny you mentioned Broadway, because… I’m an actress.”

“Have you worked in any of the musicals?”

“Actually no… I’m more of a..”

“Don’t tell me! You’re the off-broadway crew?” Belle interrupted her excitedly.

“Actually I was going to say I’m more of a tv actress.” Emma mentioned, feeling more amused than ever. “How about you?”

“Oh, I’m in the accounting and finance… clearly very similar field of work.” Emma laughed, and Belle sipped some more wine.

“Oh, have you participated in many tv shows? Do they pay well enough? I remember when I was in drama school, it was so difficult to get any small part, mostly I did amator theater.”

“I’ve been busy, some participations on tv and also some movies.”

“Oh really? I feel like the industry is so unfair to women, I have some older friends, who’s been in the job way longer than you, scraping by with fifteen, eighteen thousand a year. That’s not life. Say Emma, how much did they pay you in your last movie?”

Emma wanted to laugh, but didn’t want to make Belle feel bad. “Huh 20 million Dollars.”

Belle was stunned. “Right… so that’s fairly good.”

“Yeah”.

“Okay folks, I guess we’re ready here!” Ruby announced, and everybody stood up.

“Kathryn, can you tell me where the restroom is?” Emma asked.

“Right, it’s down the corridor, on the right.”

David approached them. “I’ll show you, come with me.”

As soon as they left, everybody gathered around Regina, and Kathryn was the first one to talk.

“So, quickly, tell us, what the hell are you doing on a date with Emma Swan?”

“Emma Swan?!” Belle said out loud and everybody shushed her. “The movie actress Emma Swan?!”

“Yeah, what did you say to her?” Fred asked, while pouring more wine to her.

“Oh God, oh God. This is so embarrassing.”

David entered in the living room. “I may have unintentionally entered in the restroom with her, I was still talking and she just…. sat down and… she asked me to leave. I’m feeling awful!”

“Oh my God, you guys cannot behave, can you?” Regina shook her head.

“Did you know she is THE Emma Swan?” Belle asked Ruby, who was beside her, supporting her.”

“Of course I knew, Belle, we even went to see her movie last summer, don’t you remember?”

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

They all took their places in the big table, the food being shared and passed from hand to hand. Emma was amazed with the intimacy they all shared, tasting each other’s food, as if there wasn’t plenty on the dishes, making jokes about their routines and telling each other anecdotes of their co-workers and customers. Henry was the center of the attention every time he talked, describing things like the food, what he learnt at the pre-school, or talking about the other kids he met. 

It was around eight when Ruby brought in the chocolate cake, and everybody sang “Happy Birthday” to her. Henry helped Zelena to blow the candle, and she made a scene of poking the green frosting to taste it, which Henry promptly copied, and laughed out loud. They all ate the cake and Regina told Henry to go wash his face and brush his teeth. Fred offered to help. The party then relocated to the living room. A few minutes later, Henry, already on Fred’s arms and in a brand new set of pajamas, kissed everyone of the guests and it was Ruby’s time to put him to bed on the guest room.  

Once she came back, Kathryn went to the kitchen and came back with a tray of chocolate cookies in her lap. They all eat happily while Zelena opened her presents. Regina gave her emerald earrings, which coincidentally match the emerald necklace Belle gave her, and the bracelet Kathryn and Fred gave her. David made her a small painting with a country scenario and a horse galloping. Zelena was completely fascinated by it. Ruby’s gift obviously was the dinner. 

“Emma, your presence here tonight just confirms what I’ve always feared. We are a bunch of desperate underachievers with some very pathetic lives.” Fred said.

“That’s a shame!” Zelena agreed.

“I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.” Fred continued. “Actually, I think that’s something we should take pride in.” The tray with the cookies was brought up to him. “I’m gonna give the last cookie as a prize to the saddest act here.” Everyone looked at David. “Dave.” He realised they were talking about him and huffed.

“Yeah, yeah, obviously it’s me, isn’t it? I mean, I work in the bookshop, when I’m supposed to be working in my area. Emma, I’m a geologist, I should’ve been working with the miners.”

“But if I’m not mistaken, your job still pays you enough to go to that _special_ café around the corner of the store, right?!” Regina said, knowing full well why David went to that specific café.

“Yeah, I mean. I’m pinning for a barista who on most days barely looks at me, I’ve done some work as a builder, that’s where these babes came from.” He flexed his biceps, showing off his guns. “I work for my best friend, who by the way, a lot of people think I’m either in love with or I’m the _gay_ best friend. But I don’t mind that, mind you.”

“Unless the person thinking that is your favorite barista, right, Dave?” Ruby said, and everyone laughed. “Also, you’re Emma Swan’s best friend, what else could you want?” Belle mentioned.

“Well, she just needs me, what can I do? Poor soul.” David winked at Emma, who laughed.

“Okay, my turn.” Belle said. “I’m an accountant and the only job I don’t hate is Regina’s bookstore, I do that gladly, but all the other accounts, I just hate them. I’ve been alone for a very long time, and I don’t see myself finding someone who would like me anytime soon.” Ruby moved uncomfortably beside Belle. “My parents moved up to dumbfuck Storybrooke, Maine, and they just expect me to move up there in the future, which, I’ve told them again and again, _good luck_ , I’m not leaving Boston and I vicariously live through Fred and Kathy’s love story to make me happy.”

“Well, Belle, most of your limbs work, while I’m here, stuck in this wheelchair day and night in a house full of ramps. And the truth is, we can’t have a baby.” The room went dead quiet. “ _C’est la vie_ .” She gulped down the obvious tears. “So, we’re still luck in many other ways, look at _Prince_ Henry, always running around the house. Although, I think this deserves the cookie, don’t you think?!”

"Oh, shut up, Kathryn. I’ve lived with granny my whole life. I had to actually go _north_ _dumbfuck_ Storybrooke, Maine to go to college, I’m about to open a restaurant, which I’d be insane if I didn’t convince Eugenia to be my chef. She’s very full of herself, you guys should see her.” Ruby said, and everybody agreed granny was the only option to be the chef. “I’ve also been crushing on this amazing, intelligent woman for the longest of times and she can’t take the hint, and I’m not sure how much more I can stand it.” Ruby looked around, avoiding Belle’s gaze, and everybody felt for her.

“Oh Ruby, you should just… tell her how you feel. You’re an amazing person!” Belle patted her on the back. Emma felt sorry for Ruby, and Belle, for being so blind to Ruby’s affection.

“I’m sorry, Ruby, But I’m not buying that. You’re not worthy of the cookie. Me, on the other hand… I was abandoned by my ex girlfriend a week before we adopted Henry, and as the paperwork was already done, I went on with it and he’s been the blessing in my life and everyone’s here, as well. My mother decided life in Boston was too much and moved to western Mass, which has absolutely nothing to do. Now, I’m stuck with David and Zelena.” Regina said.

“I’m sorry, Sis, but being _stuck_ with me is still a great deal, I’ll let you know. I’ve been on and off with a guy who cheers for the Yankees.”

“Boo, Zelena!” Fred said.

“That’s unacceptable!” Ruby said lividly.

“That’s outrageous!” David said.

“Oh my goodness, Zee, how could you?!” Regina asked.

“See? What could be worse than that?! I’m sorry, but the cookie is mine.” Zelena closed her argument.

“Yeah, that was the saddest thing I heard today.” Fred said with the tray in his hand. “I guess you deserve it.”

“But wait!” Emma intervened. “How about me?”

“You think you deserve the cookie more than I do?” Zelena asked.

“Well, it is certainly worth a shot, right?”

“This is a wicked delicious cookie, I’m sure Zee will not give it up without a fight.” Regina said.

“All right, blondie. Hit me.” Zelena said.

 “Well, where shall I begin? I was abandoned on the side of a road in Maine with a few hours of life, I was adopted by a family who gave me back to the orphanage when they got pregnant. One of my foster brothers was a huge Red Sox fan and died of leukemia by the age of nineteen and never had the opportunity to watch a game in the park. After I left the system, I lived on a friend’s cellar until I started working as an actress. Lately, with the fame and fortune, I’ve been living alone and soon, I will get old and people will realise I can’t act and this face will only resemble someone who was once famous for a while.” Emma finished her speech and everyone looked at her astonished.

Fred was the first one to break the silence. “Nah, still not bad enough as Zelena dating a Yankees fan, sorry.” Emma and everyone else laughed out loud, diffusing the sad humor.

“What a pitiful try, my dear. The cookie is still mine.” Zelena grabbed the cookie from the tray and took a meaningful bite.

 After that, the party was pretty much over and Regina and Emma were the first ones to leave the party, not without getting a hug from each and every one in the group. Emma promised to meet them again next time she’d be in town.

As they left the house, they started walking back to Emma’s hotel, and they enjoyed the last rays of sun. Emma held Regina’s hand, and they walked in silence for a few minutes. 

“So, why is she in the wheelchair?”

“Car accident, eighteen months ago. It’s still so very hard for her to adapt.”

“That’s really sad. And why did you leave Henry there?”

“Well, this bunch have been in my life forever, we all went to school together, minus Belle, who joined us a couple years ago. So we all share Henry, which of course he loves, so many uncles and aunties to give him all the attention and spoil him to the core. We all have a room with toys, pajamas and everything he needs. Tomorrow morning Fred will bring him to the store."

 As they passed through the bridge above the Garden lake, Emma stopped, and looked around, enjoying the beautiful scenario with the buildings on the background shining their lights on the park.

 “What’s up?” Regina stopped walking. “What are you looking for?”

“You.” Emma closed the distance between them and kissed Regina, putting her arms around Regina’s shoulder. Regina put her arms around Emma’s waist and deepened the kiss.

“The Garden will always be my favorite spot in Boston.” Regina said and they laughed.

“If you allow me, I’d love to take you and Henry somewhere he would enjoy.” Emma said, as they continued walking, crossing the Charles Street and entering the Common.  

“I thought you would leave.”

“I was. But I decided to stay.”

 They sat on one of the benches close to the hotel and kissed some more, enjoying the nice weather and the calmness of the place at that time. Emma stood up and Regina followed her, going in the direction of the hotel.

So, may I see you tomorrow?” Emma asked.

“Of course. Give me a call.”


End file.
